Coming Home
by kcpiratey05
Summary: A modern Sparrabeth AU. Jack, Elizabeth, and Will were inseparable growing up in small coastal town in Maine. Jack leaves to see the world and pursue a career designing sailboats, and after hearing of Lizzy's fast marriage to Will, doesn't look back. When a death brings him home he rediscovers a treasure that had been waiting for him all along (Summary by SleepyLotus)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ok y'all, New Story! This is a huge departure from the normal stories I write. I don't know why, but I Americanized them a little. Hope you like it.**

Jack entered his cottage style home over looking the beach on Hilton Head Island in the middle of the afternoon. He'd been on business in France for two months and was finally taking some much needed time off. He dropped a rather large stack of mail onto the kitchen table and picked out what looked like a small local newspaper.

Ever stuck in the past, he hit play on his answering machine as he headed into the kitchen. It was the usual onslaught of voicemail; several contractors wanting to meet with him about boat designs, sales calls claiming him a winner of a trip for two to the Bahamas, an unwanted call from Angelica wondering if she could meet him when he gets back to which he promptly rolled his eyes, and finally a message from his dad.

Jack was busying about the kitchen, fixing himself a drink and paid little attention to the message, while looking at the most recent York County Coast Star. A headline on the newspaper caught his attention, prompting him to get up and restart the message from his father.

 _"_ _Jackie, it's your father. I'm sure you're busy galavanting across the globe or something exceedingly extravagant, but something's happened here I thought you should know." There was a long pause. "Will passed away. The service is on Tuesday, if you can make it. You might want to give Elizabeth a call. That's all."_ He paused again. _"Love you, son."_ He finished somberly.

Jack took down his drink in one gulp. He walked to the door, picked up his suitcase and carried it into his bedroom. Unceremoniously dumping his clothing on the bed, he went to his closet and stuffed several pairs of pants, shirts, a jacket, and shoes into the newly emptied bag. Stopping to grab a few more things in the house, he quickly left.

His friend Hector owned a small 4 seater jet that he chartered around the islands, and graciously agreed to fly Jack to Maine straight away.

He landed late in the evening. Jack had the taxi take him to his father's house.

Seeing his childhood home brought up a lot of emotions he had hoped to leave behind, but he had to come. It was time. So he walked up to the door and put in his key, jiggling it left and right, but the door wouldn't budge. _Odd_ , he thought. He went through the side gate to try the door that led into the garage. Locked as well. The old man changed the locks? Going around to the back of the house, he picked up a small gardening spade from a plant pot and tried to jimmy the back door open.

Suddenly, the porch light flipped on and a gruff voice called from inside. "Put your hands up, step away from the window. Make one wrong move and I'll blow your brains out."

"Woah, Dad. It's me. It's Jack." He said ducking with his hands in the air.

"Jackie?" The voice asked surprised.

"Yeah, put the shotgun down."

Edward Sparrow opened the door, looking equally alarmed and relieved at the sight of his son. "What the devil are you doing back here?" His father asked him.

"My key wasn't working." Jack answered, holding up the key.

"I changed the locks." Ed said emotionless.

"When?"

"Five years ago."

"Alright, go ahead. Let me have it." Jack said sitting on his suitcase.

"Let you have what?"

"You can start guilting me about how I never visit. It's what mom would have done."

"I'd say you have enough of that on your own, you don't need my help. Besides I always knew the minute you got out of here, it'd be impossible getting you to come back. I just wish you'd call once in a while."

"I know. I just get busy." Jack said abashedly.

"Yeah, yeah. Mr. Hot Shot Yacht Designer." Ed said waving his hand at him.

"Dad."

"Nevermind. Come inside." His father led him into the house. "When did you get in?" Edward asked walking to the fridge and pulling out two bottles of beer. He opened both and set one in front of Jack.

"Just now." Jack answered as if it was obvious.

"You came straight here?" Ed looked shocked.

"Where else would I go?" Jack asked confused.

His father gave him a knowing look.

"I'm not ready for that. Besides, it's late." Jack said.

"You missed the service." His father said matter of factly, not wishing to sound like he was scolding his son.

"I was out of the country. I only got your message this morning. I came as soon as I could. How was it?" Jack asked taking a sip from his beer.

"It was nice. She had him cremated. Spread his ashes out over the bay."

"Of course." Jack paused thoughtfully. "How did it happen?"

"He liked to run at night. Guess he'd been doing it forever. Drunk driver hit him, a tourist. Came out of nowhere. He didn't suffer though. EMTs said it was instantaneous." Ed took a sip from his bottle after he finished his clipped explanation.

"How is she?" Jack asked, unsure if he wanted to broach this subject yet.

"If you ask her, she's doing fine. But truthfully, she's having a rough go of it. Having to raise the two kids and run the dive shop all on her own while dealing with the insurance company. Hasn't really had time to grieve."

"She's running the dive shop?" Jack asked astonished. "Why wouldn't she just shut it down for the summer?"

"It's peak diving season. She can't afford to lose out on the money. Not on a teacher's salary."

"Can't somebody else manage it?"

"She's still as stubborn as ever. Don't think we all haven't offered help."

"Sounds like, Liz."

"You know her father died last year?"

"I heard…er…read."

"Still having the damn local paper sent to you? What the hell for?"

"So I can keep in touch without having to go through the trouble of keeping in touch."

"There's something seriously wrong with you, boy." He downed the rest of his beer. "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like something stronger than this piss water. Want to grab a drink at Josh's?"

"Not tonight. I'd like to keep my being here a secret at least for the rest of the night. However, I did not come here empty handed." He lay down his suitcase and opened it, pulling out a bottle with some ornate designs on it. "I picked it up in Costa Rica a few months back, been meaning to send it to you. It's a 21 year aged rum. Supposed to be the best there is."

"Hmph. The last time you had me try one of your hoity-toity gifts, I nearly lost my lunch." He said, eyeing the glass skeptically.

"Just try it." Jack said pouring each of them a glass.

Edward's eyes narrowed as he picked up the glass and sniffed it's contents. "Smells all right."

"Trust me." Jack picked up his own glass. "To Will." He said sadly, raising his glass in the air.

"To Will" Ed echoed.

—

Jack and his father spent another hour catching up before Jack decided to finally call it a night. He was still jet lagged from his trip and didn't want to sleep the day away. He walked up the all too familiar staircase that led to his room passing by pictures of his parents, grandparents, Jack as a little boy. He got to his room and dropped his things. Everything was just how he left it. His father really was a sentimental sort. A rolling stones poster covered one wall, a tie die tapestry opposite of that where his bed hugged the wall. A large bay window broke up the room, with a bench seat underneath. He strolled through, admiring all the knick knacks adorning his desk and dresser, including the first model ship he ever made. His record collection was amazingly still in tact. He bent down and sifted through a few before picking out a Dylan album and putting it on the turntable. He kept the music low, so he didn't disturb his father, though his hearing was never very good, still. He lay back on his bed, still dressed and stared up at the ceiling. It had been fifteen years since he left Maine. Seven years since he'd last visited…when his mom died. After that, he never wanted to come back again, too many memories, good and bad, too much guilt.

Jack looked to his right. On his night stand, a picture frame was laying face down. He picked it up and sighed. It was a picture of Will, Elizabeth and him standing in front of his boat just before they sailed to Cape Elizabeth for Lizzie's sixteenth birthday. He remembered his mom insisting she come down to the harbor to see them off. Jack's mom had been like a second mother to Elizabeth and made sure all her major milestones had been well documented. He remembered that day so vividly. The way Elizabeth's face lit up when he told her what they were doing. The way her hair whipped wildly in the wind as she stood at the bow. He'd kissed her for the first time that day. Jack sighed and put the frame back on the desk, setting it upright, and let sleep claim him


	2. Chapter 2

_The next day…_

"Mom, why do I have to stay and work? Everyone else is going to Eric's beach house. It's gonna be the party of the summer." A dark haired girl of fifteen approached her mother in the back store room of the dive shop.

Elizabeth was focused on filling up oxygen tanks while every few moments shifting her gaze to the front of the store where her younger son James sat organizing flippers into baskets by size. "I'm sorry, Rey. I just need your help. We have sixteen reservations today, and someone needs to watch the store and James while Tai and I lead the dive."

"Isn't there anyone else to watch the store?" Rey whined.

"Please don't be difficult. We knew this was gong to be an adjustment, you're just going to have to go to the next party."

"There isn't going to be a next party. Eric is leaving for school." Rey argued.

"Well then I guess you are S.O.L." Elizabeth said, setting the tank she was holding into the rack with the others.

"This is so unfair."

"Sometimes life isn't fair." Elizabeth snapped at her.

"God, ever since Dad died you've been the absolute worst!" The young girl yelled.

Elizabeth slammed her hands down on the counter. "Enough!" She yelled back. "You want to go? Fine. Go. Hell, stay the whole weekend." Her tone had turned rigid, as her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides.

"Whatever." Rey huffed and stormed out through the front of the store.

Elizabeth stayed hunched over the counter, attempting to hold back her sobs with little luck. "Oh god, Will, I can't do this alone." She whispered between barely stifled sobs.

"Mom?" A small voice piped in between the curtains separating the front of the store from the back. "Are you okay?" James asked. A scrappy boy of seven with sandy brown hair, he smiled concernedly at his mother's disheveled state. He walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I'm fine, honey. I just miss daddy is all." She said hugging him close to her.

"I miss him too. Don't let Rey get you mad, she's just going through a phase. _She's_ the worst." He said looking up at her.

"Don't say that" She chuckled lightly. "Rey's sad too, she just doesn't want anyone to know it." Elizabeth wiped her eyes as the sound of the bell out front got her attention. "Go see to the customers. I'll be out in a moment."

"Okay." James turned to go through the curtain, but stopped short and turned back around. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, sweetie." She answered back with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

—

James entered the main part of the store and was greeted by a man with mid length dark brown hair, goatee, loosely fitted button up shirt, dark jeans and glasses. He was looking at the pictures on the wall with a strange look on his face. It was a mixture of sadness and fondness. It reminded him of the looks that so often crossed his mother's face as of late.

"Can I help you, sir?" James asked.

Jack turned, caught off guard by the youth in the voice that was questioning him. "Sir?" He questioned when he turned to face the boy. "Am I to understand that you're the proprietor of this establishment?" He asked teasing.

"No." The boy chuckled. "I'm James. My mom is in the back. She'll be out in a moment." He said matter of factly.

Lizzie's son. He looked just like her, precocious too, but polite just like Will. His musings were interrupted by further questioning. "Are you diving today?"

"No."

"Did you want to buy something? A souvenir maybe? We've got some post cards and fanny packs over there." The boy said, pointing to a glass case front with a metal rack sitting on top. "Also my mom makes necklaces out of stuff she finds out on dives."

"Show me those."

The boy led him to a jewelry rack that had all manner of rope and hemp adorned with different beads and seashells. He smiled to himself, remembering a time when she use to weave such things into his hair. "Tell me James, if you aren't the owner of this store, what is it that you do?"

"What do I do? I'm only seven." He seemed very amused that Jack was treating him more like an adult than a kid.

"You don't dive?"

"Mom says I have to wait until I'm ten. I can swim though. Sometimes I go snorkeling while everyone else dives."

"She teach you to sail yet?"

"No, well…My dad started to, but…" James got eerily quiet.

Jack attempted to divert the subject slightly. "You know a lot about sailboats?"

"I know tons." He exclaimed proudly.

"Do you have a favorite ship?"

The young boy twisted his mouth to the side in thought. "Favorite ship ever? I have more than one: The Freedom 40, The Swann 44, The Comanche, and The Pearl."

"You've heard of The Pearl?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to be the fastest monohull boat in the world. It's racing in the America's cup next year."

"You wanna know a secret?" Jack bent down to James' level.

"Sure." The boy exclaimed greedily.

"I designed that boat."

"Wow! Really?! No way, you're lying"

"Cross my heart."

"That's unbelievable! Mom! MOM! This guy…" James turned to look at the guy as if to ask for his name.

"Jack." Jack offered back

"This guy Jack, says he designed the Pearl. You gotta come out here."

Elizabeth had an armful of scuba gear piled all the way up to her head and was unable to see when she walked through the curtain. "What are you saying, James?"

"Mom this guy designs sailboats." James led Jack toward her.

She turned her head toward the man who had so captivated her son and dropped nearly everything in her arms at the sight of him.

"Hi Liz." He said, incapable of saying anything else. She'd taken his breath away just as before. Elizabeth was every bit the messy girl he remembered. Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun, she wore shorts and a tank top, covered by a faded flannel shirt, and her eyes, still the same haunting eyes only now they held sadness and pain. Loss.

Her heart was in her mouth in an instant and she fumbled with the rest of the things in her arms sending them clattering to the floor. She brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. "You're here?" She whispered in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner." He said sadly, starting to approach her. She backed herself up against the wall like she was trying to escape or to tell him not to come any closer.

"Mom, you know him?" James interrupted.

Elizabeth attempted to compose herself, unsure of how to deal with her conflicting emotions. She furiously rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop the tears that just couldn't help from falling. She cleared her throat. "Yes. Daddy and I used to be great friends of his."

Jack couldn't pretend not to be hurt by that assessment, but it was nonetheless true. His presence had faded completely into nonexistence, but not without reason.

"This is that Jack? You built our ship, the one that's named after my sis-"

"Mahalo, Lizzie!" Came Tai, rushing in. He was a wiry man in his thirties, had moved to Maine from Hawaii when he was twelve. He and Will had opened the shop together when they turned eighteen. "It's prefect diving weather. Conditions are perfect and we've got quite the haul awaiting us. You ready?" Tai was an energetic sort and had been more so since Will passed. He did everything he could to keep Elizabeth busy and her spirits lifted.

Elizabeth pushed her emotions down to the pit of her stomach and pushed herself away from the wall. "Morning Tai. I'm almost ready. Just need to finish packing up the truck."

Tai was scrutinizing her face, sensing that something was wrong "Getting a slow start this morning?" He teased, hoping to get a rise out of her. "Oh, I didn't realize you had a customer." He said just barely noticing Jack. "My apologies. Good Morning, Sir. I'm dive master Tai at your service. You coming aboard today?" He said toward Jack who had yet to break his gaze from Elizabeth.

Jack turned to face Tai. "Nice to meet you Tai and no, not today." He said sticking out his hand with a dopey smirk.

"Holy Shit. I must be imagining things or there's something wrong with my eyes. There's no way Jack Sparrow is standing here in this shop."

"I can hardly believe it myself." Jack added.

"Did you sail here in one of your fancy yachts?" Tai teased

"No, I came on a fancy plane." He joked back.

"Well, don't just stand there, man. Bring it in." Tai said pulling Jack into a huge embrace. "How long are you here for?"

"Probably not long." Elizabeth said unevenly before going into the back room.

"Jimmy, why don't you go help your mom." Tai suggested to the boy who nodded fiercely and followed after his mother. "How long _are_ you here for?" Tai asked again.

"I don't really have a plan. I'm in between projects, so I'm here for the foreseeable future." Jack answered giving a long look in the direction Elizabeth had gone.

"Well, I wish you luck with that." Tai said following his gaze. "It's been a rough couple of months."

"So I've heard."

Elizabeth came back through the curtain, James close on her heels. "The truck is packed, we better get going. Shit." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Rey is off doing god knows what and I don't have anyone to watch James. Honey, you're going to have to stay at the gift shop with Maggie, so I can lock up here."

"Ugh, not Maggie, Mom she smells funny." He complained.

"James, what a terrible thing to say." Elizabeth scolded him.

Jack and Tai had to stifle a chuckle.

"It's true." James reiterated. "Why can't I come on the boat?"

"We're already over capacity. Can you just do as I say, please?"

"I can hang here with the kid." Jack chimed in.

"I don't know."

"Please mom." James pleaded.

"Time and tide, Liz. We gotta get going." Tai urged her.

"Alright." She answered unconvincingly. "Just don't burn the place down."

"I think we remember that evening happening very differently, Lizzie." Jack said jokingly.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him before bending down to her son. "Please behave yourself and keep an eye on him. You remember how to use the register and take down reservations."

"Yeah, mom. I can handle it."

"Alright. We'll be back before sunset. I love you." She squeezed him into a hug.

"Okay, okay. I love you too" He said embarrassed.

"Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge in the back, and please be on your best behavior." She turned to Jack, muttering the last bit only loud enough for him to here.

"We can hold down the fort. Don't worry. Have a good dive."

Elizabeth looked glued to the spot, unable to leave and unable to stay she shuffled back and forth on her feet.

"Mom!"

"Lizzie!"

"Liz!"

They all said at once.

"Alright, I'm going. I'm going." Tai exited the store and she followed behind him, but turned back at the last second. "When I come back…" She trailed off "We should talk. We need to talk." She added the last part with a tone that imparted a small sense of dread into Jack's stomach.

Recognizing that particular tone, James piped in "I think you might be in trouble," staring after his mom.

"I think you might be right." Jack answered back eyes focused on the same place. "Why don't we get this place cleaned up a bit?" He said walking over to the dropped supplies behind the counter.

—

"Keys." Tai said to Elizabeth who was walking to the truck as if it was a death sentence.

She tossed him the keys and the two got into the car. Elizabeth threw her head back against the head rest and shut her eyes.

"So Jack's back?" He observed and Elizabeth snapped her head toward him. He gave her a cheeky grin and chuckled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" She exhaled, rubbing her hand over her face.

"Are you sure you want to dive today?" He asked, concerned.

"Yes. I badly need to be out on the water today." She answered seriously.

Tai laughed at her. "Alright! Let's sink some outta staters!"

Elizabeth chuckled, allowing herself to relax just a little bit.

—

"Is it always this boring around here?" Jack said staring out the window at the empty main street.

"We've had a slow couple of weeks. Mom said it would start picking up soon. They have a big trip today. sixteen divers."

"That's a lot."

"Yeah." He answered checking that the wetsuits were organized by the right sizes. James paused for a moment unsure if he wanted to ask Jack a million questions or just one. "So you knew my parents when they were kids?"

"I did. We grew up together. We were best friends. Never a moment when the three of us weren't together getting into some trouble or another."

"How come you left?" James asked innocently.

"That's a pretty long and complicated story."

"We've got time."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, I suppose we do. Care to make it interesting?"

"Interesting how?"

"You've got playing cards in here?" He asked James who nodded. "Why don't we play for stories? Winner gets to ask whatever they want, the loser has to answer. Sound like fun?"

James nodded again and ran to the back room to get the cards.

"What games do you know?" Jack asked ushering James to sit on top of the counter across from him.

"I know gin rummy."

"Perfect! Me too. You deal." Jack instructed him.

James shuffled the cards and dealt them out. He scrunched his nose up in concentration and Jack's heart fluttered recognizing the same look Elizabeth would get when she was hyper focused. They played a few turns when all of sudden James called out "Gin!"

"Already?"

"Read 'em and weep." He said proudly.

"Clearly I'm playing with an expert. Okay, ask your question?"

"When did you first meet my mom?" James asked, collecting the cards. He began to shuffle them as he listened to Jack's answer.

"Your dad, and I were 11 when the Governor and his daughter moved here. He decided to move here after his wife died. He wanted to bring his only daughter to someplace new, someplace quiet. She walked into our class on the first day of school and I said to your dad that she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen."

"What did my dad say?"

"Something along the lines of 'Dude, gross'."

James giggled. "Really?"

"Your dad wasn't into girls yet. He obviously changed his opinion after a while."

"Were you friends right away?"

"Instantly. Ok. Ok. One question and answer per hand." Jack said indignantly.

"Fine." James pouted dealing out the cards again.

They played a few more turns than the last game and James cried out again. "Gin!"

"Again? Seriously?"

James giggled wildly. "Why did you leave?"

Jack narrowed his eyes at the child. "Cutting right to the chase, huh?"

"I win, I ask, you answer. That was the deal."

Jack sighed. "To answer this question, I'm gonna have to go back a bit."

"That's okay." The boy eagerly scooted closer to Jack, his face propped on his elbows.

"My dad was a fisherman. I worked with him every summer from ten on. I wanted to buy my own sailboat. It took me four years to save up enough money to buy some run down old thing. My dad didn't want me to buy it. Said it wasn't water worthy. I promised him I would fix it up, do all of the work myself, pay for everything. He finally agreed. I spent two years learning everything I could about sailboats. I already knew a fair amount, but nowhere near enough. I finished her just in time for your mom's sixteenth birthday. The three of us sailed to Cape Elizabeth for the day." Jack paused in his story, remembering that day very vividly.

 _"Alright, Will, bring her about!" A young Jack yelled from the wheel. Will jumped up and swung the boom around, slowing the speed of the boat so they could anchor themselves in the cove. Jack skipped down to the bow to drop the anchor, walking passed Elizabeth who was laying across the hatch, sunning herself. "No, no. Don't get up. I got this." Jack said sarcastically_

 _"It's my birthday! I get to do what I want." She said matter of factly. "And I want you two to do all the work."_

 _Jack and Will exchanged a look. Will nodded. Jack scooped Elizabeth up in his arms and carried her to the side of the ship._

 _"Jack!" She screeched. "Don't you dare!"_

 _"What's the matter, Lizzie? Afraid to get wet?"_

 _"Put me down!"_

 _"You asked for it." Jack was about to toss her in the water when he stumbled and fell into the ocean with her. They both surfaced, laughing. Jack grabbed onto the side of the boat, Elizabeth did the same._

 _"Idiot." She said, splashing water at him._

 _"Idiot?!" He said in mock astonishment. "You're gonna pay for that." He dove under the water and pulled her by her ankle beneath the water. They wrestled about in the water and she kicked herself free and broke the surface again, looking around for his shape beneath the waves. She was in the shadow of the sailboat, so the waters were dark. "Will, can you see him?" She called up to the boat._

 _"No." He yelled back after scanning the waters._

 _"Where did he go?" She asked him. Will merely shrugged._

 _Elizabeth dove beneath the surface and looked all around her. She couldn't see anything. She swam a little further and her foot grazed something solid. Startled, she shirked away slightly, surfacing again. Suddenly she was dragged beneath the surface again and pulled through the water. She tried to kick free again, but his grip was too tight. She was starting to lose her breath and began to panic, kicking her legs violently, making contact with Jack's abdomen. He swallowed a whole heap of ocean water as he gasped for breath, and surfaced near the stern, coughing fiercely._

 _Elizabeth surfaced next to him, trying to catch her breath. "Are you crazy?" She said hitting him in the chest. Jack had finally started to catch his breath "Were you trying to drown me?"_

 _"No." He let out another cough. "I just wanted to get you alone for a minute." He said seriously._

 _"What for?" She asked angrily._

 _"So I could give you this." He said before pulling her face to his and covered her mouth with his own. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself and allowed him to deepen the kiss. Needing to catch their breath, they broke the kiss. "Happy Birthday." He bent his head to kiss her again. "Still think I'm an idiot?" He smiled slyly._

 _"Shut up." She said and kissed him again._

 _"Are you guys okay?" Will yelled from the deck, unable to see the two coiled in each other's arms._

 _They broke apart and Elizabeth buried her forehead into Jack's shoulder. " Yeah, we're fine. Jack is just a moron."_

 _He gave her a hurt look and she pressed a kiss to his cheek._

 _"Drop the ladder, would you?" She asked Will._

 _They climbed back on the boat, Will none the wiser of what had transpired. Elizabeth went back to her spot at the bow and dried off with her towel while Jack rummaged below and brought up a cooler and some fishing poles._

 _"We have ice cold beers, sandwiches and chum." Jack said setting down the cooler._

 _"You put the chum in the same cooler as the sandwiches?" Will asked_

 _"Don't worry the chum is in a separate bag."_

 _"That has split open and gotten all over everything." Elizabeth chimed in from under the lid of the cooler._

 _"Haha, very funny" Jack muttered._

 _"Does it look like I'm laughing?"_

 _Jack and Will peered inside and sure enough, little bits of fish guts were covering everything._

 _"Well, it looks like we're eating our catch today guys." Jack clapped his hands together and started baiting the poles. "Will, be a dear and rinse off the beer."_

 _Will rolled his eyes and carried an armful of beers to the side of the ship and dropped them in the water. Jack handed Elizabeth a fishing pole and let his fingers caress hers as they made the exchange. She looked at him hungrily under half lidded eyes, filling him with an insatiable desire to kiss her again. He reluctantly refrained, at least for the sake of Will. It was no secret that Will liked Elizabeth too, but he was too shy to ever act on anything, and Jack wasn't about to let an opportune moment pass him by just because they each liked the same girl, but he wasn't going to rub his face in it either. Besides that, Jack more than liked her, she filled his every thought._

 _Though, Will knew more than he let on, or Jack and Elizabeth were not as discreet as they thought. He caught them exchanging strange glances and awkward touches that sparked with so much more than something innocently playful throughout the rest of the day. He'd accused Jack that very night, asking him if something was going on between the two of them. Jack vehemently denied it, saying it was all in his head, but Will's suspicions were confirmed when a few weeks later Jack and Elizabeth officially started dating._

Jack's thoughts were interrupted by a small voice. "Ahem, Jack. You sailed to Cape Elizabeth, then what?"

"Oh right, well we came across a local shipbuilder on our little trek who greatly admired my work and offered me a job. I apprenticed under him for three years and then he offered me a job with his company over seas."

"You left for a job?" James asked unimpressed.

"That job made the Pearl possible." Jack fired back.

"But why didn't you ever come back?" James asked not understanding.

"I always told myself once I got out of here, I'd never look back."

"But what about your friends and your family? Didn't you miss them?"

"Everyday."

"Why stay away, then?" James asked, believing the solution to be simpler than it was.

"Because I'm a coward who is no good with his feelings."

"You're here now, so are you not scared anymore?"

"Terrified."

"Mom says when you're scared you should close your eyes and imagine you're in the best place on earth with your favorite person and to let that feeling make you brave. It doesn't always work, but it sounds nice and makes me feel better when I try. You should try it sometime."

"I'm afraid that won't work for me." Jack focused on his hands.

"Why not?"

"The two are one and the same. The thing that scares me is also the thing that makes me brave."

"Sounds complicated."

"I believe I told you that it was."

"You did. Wanna play again?"

"Why? So you can shiest me again?" Jack asked with a narrowed gaze.

James giggled, "I'll let you win."

"Gee thanks." Jack watched the boy put his hands together, ready to beg him to play. "Sure, let's play again." James started to shuffle and Jack noticed him pulling cards from his sleeve and putting them to the bottom of the deck each time. Jack reached out and grabbed his shirt sleeve, lifting it up so the cards fell out onto the counter. "Cheat."

James laughed uproariously.

"Sneaky little…"

"James, where's mom?" Rey burst in interrupting the two. Jack was stunned by the fierceness in the girl's entrance. She was all Elizabeth head to toe, only with dark brown hair. There was no trace of Will anywhere in her face. It was the strangest thing. The lad had the doe eyed look Will always had, but the girl…there was something familiar that he couldn't quite place.

"She's out on a dive. You know that. Aren't you supposed to be at Eric's?" James asked, saying Eric's name with disgust.

"They're going out on his boat. Who are you?" She asked, turning to Jack, finally feeling his stare upon her.

"This is Jack. Mom told you you're not allowed on his boat without her knowing." James answered for Jack while being the authority on what was and wasn't allowed.

"No shit, I came to ask her permission. Jack who?" She looked back at him.

"Jack Teague. And you are?" Jack asked extending his hand. Rey eyed it suspiciously.

"Rey. I've never seen you around here before." She said reluctantly taking his hand.

"That's because he doesn't live here, dummy." James chimed in.

"So why is he watching the store, butt head?" She mocked back at her brother.

"I'm a friend of your mom's" Jack said at last, enjoying the sparring siblings.

"You're that Jack?" She looked surprised.

"I guess so." Jack shrugged.

"She talks about you a lot." Rey said, sizing him up.

"Good things? I was trying to get to the bottom of said stories, but I was swindled." He said looking at James who just hunched over in a stifled laughter.

"I'd say 50/50."

"That's fair. So you want to go sailing, huh?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Rey answered back with attitude.

"And knowing your mom wasn't here, you thought you'd come by, so that when she finds out later you went without her permission you can say you tried, but she was too busy to tell you yes or no. Sound about right?" Jack asked, a vague suspicion beginning to form in his mind.

"That's pretty much the gist of it." She sighed defeated.

"He's good." James said to no one in particular, shuffling the cards.

"The gentleman whose boat you want to go on, does he have a last name, or is it just Eric?"

"Eric Beckett."

"Beckett? Chris's kid?" He asked and James answered.

"Yeah, he's a real butt munch."

"James." Rey scolded.

"I can see why your mom doesn't want you hanging around him. He comes from a shit family. You can do way better than a Beckett." Jack said, suddenly protective.

"He's the most popular guy at school." She scoffed.

"Doesn't mean he's a good guy."

"What do you know, you don't even live here anymore?" She was starting to get irate at the stranger who seemed to know her so well without knowing her at all.

"I know more than you, missy. Let's get that right. Why don't you stick around, play cards with us?"

"Nothing could possibly sound more boring than that." She muttered, looking supremely disinterested.

"I'll make you a deal. You hangout with us, I'll let you have a beer." Jack wriggled his eyebrows at her.

"Seriously? You're bribing me with booze? I had three beers before I came back here." She bragged.

"Ok, hot shot. You hangout with us and I won't tell your mother you've been drinking." Jack said with a knowing smirk. _Check and Mate_.

"Touché, old man. I'll stay." Rey was impressed.

"He's really good" James chuckled to himself.

"Can I still have that beer?" Rey asked with hopeful eyes.

"No." Jack said flatly.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth returned to the shop around 5 in the evening to find Jack, James and Rey huddled around the counter playing cards and laughing.

"There's no way that was her idea, you're lying?" Rey accused Jack.

"Honest to God. We all agreed to the bet." Jack affirmed.

"Who lost?" James asked.

"Who do you think?" Jack asked looking down his nose at the boy.

"Get out!" Rey exclaimed.

"What's going on here, guys?" Elizabeth asked from the doorway, dropping her stuff on the ground.

Rey rose and ran to her, laughing wildly. "Mom, you really went streaking down the docks during the maritime festival?"

"Jack." Elizabeth scolded. "What the hell?"

"What? It's true. You don't want them to know the truth?" He asked pointedly.

"Mom, Jack's gonna take us sailing tomorrow." James interrupted the intense stare shared between the two of them.

"He is?" She looked to her son.

"Only if it's okay with you." Jack amended.

"Please mom, please?" James pleaded.

"Come on, mom. Close the shop for a day. We'll survive. Let's have some fun." Rey said, pulling on her mom's arm.

"We'll play it by ear." She answered.

"Which means 'no'." Rey and James said at the same time. Jack had to laugh at that.

"What are you doing here, Rey? I thought you were at Eric's" Elizabeth asked, her tone flat.

"Eric is a butt munch." Rey echoed James' previous remark, looking back to Jack who nodded back in approval.

"Okay. Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" Elizabeth asked, suspiciously.

"It's still me. Jack made a compelling argument against him." Rey answered with a shrug.

"I think I remember making a compelling argument against him as well." Elizabeth added in defense.

"You did?" Rey smirked in that way that always made Elizabeth's insides turn to liquid. "Hm, can't say I recall."

 _They are so alike,_ Elizabeth thought, unable to keep her focus on any one thing.

"Do you need help unpacking the truck?" Jack asked sensing Elizabeth's uneasiness.

"Sure."

"Get a head start?" Jack prompted James who grabbed Rey's hand and pulled her out the front of the store. "About that talk?" He said to her once the kids had gone.

"Not now. I can't…I don't even…" She spoke frantically.

"Lizzie?" He said standing up, moving toward her.

"No, don't you dare call me that." She yelled at him.

"Elizabeth." He said her name in that tone of voice that still haunted her sleep.

Tears started spilling freely from beneath her shut eyelids. "I prayed for you to come back every night, every night for years. I thought maybe you'd at least come for the funeral, and when you didn't show…I gave up all hope of ever seeing you again, and now you're here and…it's like it was all a bad dream, but it happened, it was real, Jack, and you can't make me forget that. You won't." She was shaking.

"Lizzie, that's not…I'm not…" He said wrapping her in his arms. "I just came for you." He said at last.

"Fifteen years too late." She said wiping her eyes with her sleeve, pulling away from his grasp, turning her back to him.

"If you'd have told me, I would have been on the first flight back here. In a fucking heartbeat." He said softly at her back.

She turned back to him, eyes wide with terror. _Of course he knew. She was the spitting image of him._ She opened her mouth about to speak when James and Rey came in, arms full of diving equipment.

"Were you guys gonna come out and help or are you just going to stand there staring at each other all night?" Rey asked, walking in between them.

"Right." Jack said, walking passed Elizabeth and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder before heading out to the truck.

Elizabeth stood in the foyer, hugging herself, staring blankly into the void.

"Mom." Rey urged, grabbing her attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, honey." She put on a fake smile. The one she wore for Will in the first few years of their marriage. Elizabeth put her arm around Rey and they walked out of the store together. "I'm glad you decided to stick around." She added.

"Me too." Rey smiled.

They got out to the truck and Jack was hauling empty tanks under each arm while James carried the rest. "Sorry, ladies, but there's nothing left. Me and the young sir grabbed the rest."

"That was lucky." Elizabeth whispered to her daughter.

"Open the door, dear?" Jack asked through a few large puffs of breath as he heaved the tanks along.

"Do you want me to grab one?" Elizabeth offered.

"Not. Necessary. I. Got. It." He barely stumbled through the door, when he dropped the tanks on the floor.

"You know those aren't indestructible? And they cost a fair amount of money." She said crossing her arms as the tanks rolled across the floor.

"If it turns out I broke any of them, I promise I'll reimburse you." He stood, shaking out his arms.

"Alright, everyone grab something, let's get this place cleaned up." Elizabeth ordered.

The four of them started picking up various pieces of equipment: tanks, wet suits, snorkels, flippers and the like and putting them into their proper places. Rey and James noticed Jack and Elizabeth dancing around each other, looking at one when the other wasn't looking and giving each other awkward half smiles when they were.

"Something's going on." Rey whispered to James.

"Duh." James rolled his eyes.

"What do you think it is?" She asked.

"I think it has to do with him not living here anymore."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Elizabeth asked from across the room.

"Nothing." They answered in sing-song unison.

"We're all finished with the wet suits." James exclaimed happily.

"All done here as well." Jack said wiping his hands on his pants.

"Great. Let's lock up and get outta here." Elizabeth said ushering all of them out through the front door. She turned and locked it, and the foursome stood out on the sidewalk in an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"I'll…uh…get out of your hair." Jack said scratching his head.

"Ask him to come over for dinner." Rey whispered just behind her mother's back. Elizabeth gave her a pointed look.

"Yeah, he should come over for dinner!" James said loudly.

Rey brought her palm to her forehead. "Be quiet, dummy." She shushed her brother.

"It _is_ the least I can do for all your help today." Elizabeth shrugged.

"Really, I don't want to intrude."

"I'll make tacos." She taunted.

"Lobster tacos?" He questioned hopefully like a little kid at Christmas. Elizabeth made the best lobster tacos in all of Maine. Jack made her cook them almost everyday of the summer when they were younger.

"Mom's famous lobster tacos." Rey and James said together, salivating as they let the words drip off of their tongues.

"'Tis the season." Elizabeth smiled.

"You know I could never say no to lobster tacos."

"Then you should probably have dinner with us." Rey piped in.

"Come on Jack." James begged him, coming up to pull on his pant leg.

"Alright, I'm convinced. Tacos it is."

"Yes!" James exclaimed.

"Awesome." Rey beamed.

"Tacos!" The two yelled in unison before running up ahead to the car.

"Sorry." She whispered. "They're excitable."

"They're fun." He half smiled as they walked side by side, staring at their feet. "I think I'd still like to have that talk. A little later." He whispered, looking up at her.

She nodded silently and they continued to her car.

—

They drove up the long dirt road that led to her house. It was her father's house. Her and Will had taken over the estate after her father passed.

"You still live in the same house?" Jack joked.

"We only just moved in last year, after Dad died. He left us the house and a boat load of debt."

"Kindly man, even in death." Jack jeered.

"Jack." She scolded as they got out of the car.

"Your grandpa didn't care for me very much. Didn't fancy having a fisherman's son hanging about his daughter." He said addressing James and Rey as they carried groceries up the drive.

"Grandpa hated you for being a fisherman's son?" James asked curiously.

"No, he hated him for being a delinquent and having a questionable influence on me." Elizabeth corrected.

"Admit it, Liz. He was way too over protective of you."

"I admit nothing." She said through gritted teeth, making eyes at the kids who were hanging on their every word.

"I'm going to enjoy hearing more about mom's delinquency, I think." Rey said with a smirk.

"I was not the delinquent, he was." Elizabeth defended. Rey and Jack exchanged a knowing look, the same look, and it made Elizabeth shudder. Rey would find out the truth sooner or later, how would she explain it to her, or to James? "In the house, everyone." She said in frustration. The two kids went into the house and Elizabeth put up a hand to stop Jack. He looked at her questioningly.

"Please, it's hard enough to keep control of her without filling her head with stories of all the bonehead things we used to do."

"Bonehead things? Lizzie, they were adventures and great ones at that." He laughed

"Regardless, let's cool it with the Black Lizzie stuff okay?"

"Ok I have to know, who the hell is Black Lizzie?" Rey said from the doorway, hands propped up inside the frame.

"Black Lizzie, was what your mom turned into after the sun went down."

"Ok. That's enough of that." Elizabeth pushed Jack through the doorway with a sigh.

"The public wants what it wants, Lizzie." He said in between laughs.

—

"You started that fire, Jack!" She yelled from over the stove.

"How dare you? I was not the one who put an oil lantern on top of the propane tank." He said from the island in the center of the kitchen, cutting vegetables.

"And whose brilliant idea was it to bring an oil lantern into a barn in the first place?"

"Will forgot the flashlights, it was all I could find in the tool shed." He said waving the knife around haphazardly

"You were the ones who burned down the Johnson's farm?" Rey asked incredulously.

"I wouldn't say burned down, more like exploded upward in a ball of fire."

"And Jack did it." Elizabeth argued.

"Taking that version to the grave, huh? And you wonder why your dad hated me."

"There's no wondering, you were the easy scape goat. You didn't need my help getting into trouble."

"Shall I remind you why we were at the Johnson's barn in the first place?"

Elizabeth whipped around with a menacing glare, live lobster in hand, locking eyes with Jack who raised his eyebrows at her. "NO!" She commanded.

"Come on, Mom!"

"Sorry, that is not a story for sharing." She said turning back to the stove, dropping the lobster into the boiling water. The poor critter let out an ear piercing cry.

"Better listen to your mom on this one" Jack suggested with a wink while Rey and James laughed in the background.

"So, Jack." Rey said over enunciating his name. "You design sailboats?" She asked, leaning forward, scrutinizing his every move.

"Yup." He answered as he continued the required prep work.

"Do you ever build custom ships for famous people?"

"A few. I mostly do work for wealthy millionaires who want something unique no one else has."

"So you travel a lot?" She questioned more intensely, as if she were interrogating him.

"More than not." He looked up, hearing her tone.

"Where've you been?"

"All over."

"Where was your favorite?"

He paused thinking for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. "Bermuda."

"Why?" She asked.

"Why?" He echoed, puzzled.

"Why?" She insisted.

"The Crystal Caves, Rum Cake, and Goslings. In that order." He answered quickly.

"What's a goslings?" James interrupted the fast paced exchange with piqued curiosity.

"It's rum." He grinned.

"Oh." James answered with sincere disappointment.

"One day, when you're older…"

"Much Older." Elizabeth chimed in over him.

" _Much_ older" He echoed, "Rum will sound interesting to you."

"Where do you live now?" Rey continued her long line of questioning.

"Hilton Head"

"South Carolina?" Elizabeth asked.

"Lot of boat business in the Sea Islands of South Carolina. The weather's nice and the town is quiet 8 months out of the year."

"Sounds like here. Except the part about the weather." Rey added. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Rey." Elizabeth scolded.

"What? It's a valid question."

"The answer is no. Anymore questions?"

"Nope. I'm good." Rey said satisfied.

"Good."

"No, wait. I have one more."

"How did mom get the nickname Black Lizzie?" Rey asked with a mischievous grin.

"Ok, no more questions. Rey, take your brother upstairs and get cleaned up for dinner."

"Tsk" Rey clucked. "Come on, James. This is the part of the evening when adults share secrets they don't want the kids to hear."

"I'm not going to…" She yelled after them, defending herself, but they'd already disappeared into the hallway "what the hell does it matter?"

"Why are you hiding yourself from them?" Jack laughed at her frustration

"I'm not hiding myself from them. I buried as many of those memories as I could. It hurt less, forgetting that any of it happened." She began to crack the lobsters over the sink, dropping the meat into a separate bowl.

"Surely your legend lives on in the community?" He teased.

She turned toward him. "I'll have you know, I'm a well respected history teacher who now runs a dive shop during the summer seasons. Black Lizzie is dead, and her stories died with her." She turned back toward the sink.

"Shame. I liked Black Lizzie." He said leaning against the island behind her.

"Not enough to take her with you." She muttered under her breath.

"Save that kind of talk for later, ok? They don't need to walk in on any of that." He said seriously.

Elizabeth snorted at him. "As if you know what's best for them, or for us."

"I'm just trying to keep things light." He put his hands up in defense.

"God forbid you take anything seriously." She said, cracking more lobster.

"Do you wanna do this now?" He said grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him.

"No. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around you being here, in my kitchen, helping me make dinner, telling stories to my kids." She paused and turned away from him. "It's what I always wanted, but I didn't imagine it quite like this." She said in barely a whisper, a single tear running down her cheek as she wiped her hands on a nearby dish towel.

She gasped when he slipped behind her, gathering her into his arms from behind, holding her against his chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to where the tear had started making its descent down her face. She exhaled, relaxing against him.

"You don't know how sorry I am for the way things turned out." He whispered in her ear.

"Yes, I do." She said, leaning her cheek against his. "I've missed you beyond reasoning." She said turning in his arms to face him. "Now you're here and I feel 18 again, but we've grown so old" She ran her hands over his face.

"We're not old, Lizzie. We're just not kids anymore."

"We're strangers, Jack. I haven't seen in you seven years, fifteen years since we had a real conversation."

"Come on" He said pushing her back by the shoulders. "Let's finish dinner. We can continue this later." He put a hand to her cheek. "Smile for me, love." He demanded, with an exaggerated grin.

She did so and he laughed. "Since I'm making lobster tacos, you know what needs to happen don't you?"

He looked at her with a leer.

"Not that?! You have to make salsa."

"As you wish." He said with a bow.


	4. Chapter 4

"Isreally goodmom" James said with a mouthful of lobster.

"Swallow before talking Jimmy." Elizabeth nudged him

"The kid's right, though. You've really perfected the recipe." Jack said from across the table.

"It's the salsa." She said, trying to be modest.

"I think they both compliment each other nicely." Jack and Elizabeth shared an odd look at Rey's assessment, a silent exchange filled with _Do you think she knows? How could she?_ "Thanks for dinner guys. It really is good." Rey said shoving a taco in her mouth.

Jack told a few more harmless stories over dinner while Rey and James shared stories of their own, filling in some of the gaps over the past few years. Elizabeth could not take her eyes off of Rey as she was telling stories about their life with Will. Her every mannerism was Jack's. The way she explained everything so animatedly, was so uniquely his. She never realized, or she had forgotten. It must have been harder on Will than he let on. It certainly explained why her and Rey's relationship had become so strained. She was reminding her more and more of Jack.

They finished dinner and moved to the living room to play a game before sending James up to bed. He wanted to play Euchre since there was four of them and declared loudly he wanted to be on his mother's team.

"I have to warn you, it's been a long time since I've played this." He said across the table to Rey.

"I won't hold it against you." She smirked at him.

James started to shuffle the cards and Jack put a hand to his forearm. "Hold it. Check his sleeves. This one's a cheat."

"I don't cheat." James said offended.

"Yes you do" Elizabeth and Rey said simultaneously.

"I'm afraid the evidence is stacked against you, kid. Now empty those sleeves." Jack ordered.

"See? Empty." James said shaking his sleeves.

They proceeded to play the game, Jack and Rey won the first two games. James and Elizabeth won the third, but after that it was a clean sweep for the next four games in favor of their opposition.

"Come on, mom. We can't let them win again." James urged her.

"I'm doing the best I can, sweetie." Elizabeth answered.

"Hey, no table talk." Rey said from behind her cards, biting her bottom lip as she was deep in thought.

"I wouldn't call that table talk exactly, but still, she's right. Keep a lid on it you two." Jack muttered with the same look of concentration, all the way down to the bitten bottom lip.

Elizabeth looked between the two and shook her head. _Scary_.

The game went on. Again, Jack and Rey won the first three points handedly.

"They're cheating!" James said throwing down his cards.

"How can they be cheating? You're the one dealing." Elizabeth calmed him.

"Only two points left, until total annihilation." Rey joked.

James dealt out the cards and Elizabeth watched as Jack and Rey both organized their cards. They never looked at one another, they only fiddled with their fingers, scrunched up their faces, bit at their bottom lip…realization dawned on Elizabeth. "You _are_ cheating!"

"We are not!" Jack exclaimed.

"Oh really? James, deal again. Play this hand completely still, don't touch your face, move your eyes, no movement." She said to Jack.

"How am I supposed to play my cards?" Jack asked confused. "Liz, you really think we came up with a way of cheating without talking?"

"No, I suppose you're right. Let's just finish the game. It's getting late and it is way passed a certain somebody's bedtime.

They all picked up their cards and started strategizing. Jack looked at Rey with a smile and she nodded back at him. "I'm sorry. I can't let you go on believing you're such terrible card players. We were cheating."

"I knew it!" Elizabeth and James said together

"You catch on quick, girl" He said to Rey, still impressed that it only took a few hands for her to catch on to his signals.

"Standardized testing would indicate that I'm too smart for my own good and that I bore easily." She said proudly.

"There are worse traits to have. Trust me." Jack assured her, having intimate knowledge of being bored with school.

"A family full of cheats. Am I the only honest one in this room?" Lizzie asked, and at once the room got unbearably quiet.

"Time for bed, James. Come on." Rey said, getting up from the coffee table and leading the bleary eyed James from the table.

"Rey…"

"Goodnight." Rey cut off her mother and quickly went upstairs.

Once he was sure they were well out of ear shot. "I think it might be safe to assume that she knows something's up." Jack said getting up from the floor and moving to the couch.

"I'm a terrible mother." Elizabeth said resting her forehead on the coffee table.

"No, you're not. Come here" Jack beckoned her to sit next to him. She reluctantly got to her feet and walked to the couch, curling into him automatically when she sat down. "She's a victim of circumstance. We all were. If this, this, and this happened or hadn't happened…well it would just be different. You raised two magnificent kids with Will. Who knows how badly we might have screwed them up?"

Elizabeth laughed at that. "I just worry she won't understand. I don't want her to resent me. Or hate you."

"I think we're far from that, but I do think she probably doesn't want to be treated like she's some oblivious kid. I mean, Christ, Lizzie, she looks just like me."

"I know. It's eerie isn't it? Seeing the two of you together…it's like being in an episode of the Twilight Zone."

"Why didn't you tell me? I can't have been gone that long when you found out."

"I was scared to tell you. I was afraid you wouldn't want to have anything to do with us. One more thing to tie you back down here. You were so happy to leave, and the letters about all your adventures…how could I have taken that away from you?"

"You didn't even give me a chance."

"What chance did I owe you? A letter every month, a phone call every three, always saying you missed me and that it wouldn't be long before you came back. We both knew you weren't coming back. So, I waited and waited for you to ask me to come with you. Never, not once, not even an inkling of want was written on those pages. My heart was broken."

"I didn't ask you in any of those letters because I was saving up money to ask you the right way. But eventually I did ask."

"What do you mean?"

"Your dad would never have let you run off with me, unless it was legally binding." He said grabbing her hands, her ring finger pinched between his own.

"Don't tell me that." She said holding back a sob, "Please don't tell me that." She kept her eyes focused on his hands.

"When you didn't answer me, I assumed you'd found someone else and moved on. Then I saw the wedding announcement in the stupid newspaper, and I stopped sending them."

"When my father found out I was pregnant, he went crazy. He wanted to hunt you down and kill you. Every letter that came to the house after that day was burned in the fireplace, no matter how much I argued with him. He wouldn't even let me answer the phone."

"And then he had you marry Turner to avoid the scandal? Unbelievable."

"I had already tarnished my reputation enough, he said. But Will was a saint for going along with it. Taking in Rey, loving her like she was his. I owe him for all of this." She paused. "We _were_ happy."

"I could have made you happy." He said sadly. "If you would have just said something. Told me how you were feeling, told me about Rey, I would have."

"We were just kids, Jack. You don't know what you would've done."

"Lizzie, I took that job to build a life for us. A life for us away from this godforsaken place."

"We talked about getting out of here _together_ , remember? Then you up and left me here with that fucking boat, and you didn't come back for fifteen years!"

"I did come back once." He corrected.

"Seven years ago, and we didn't even speak."

"I'm not blameless in this, I know. We both made mistakes, mistaken assumptions, and I maintain, as I always have, that your father was an ass hat, may he rest in peace, but, Lizzie-and I'm being dead serious- you leave that fucking boat out of this." He teased with a small smile.

She laughed through her sobs and snuggled her face into his chest. "I'm so sorry, Jack."

"I'm sorry too."

They sat there holding each other for a long time in silent reverence, letting out final tears, and starting anew. Jack lifted her face, so he could look into her eyes without the past hanging over their heads. "Want to go for a walk?" He asked softly. She nodded.

They walked hand in hand all around the property, catching up and reminiscing.

"I'm sorry about Will." He said finally. "I hadn't really gotten around to telling you that."

"Me too. He didn't deserve that. He was a good man, a good dad, a good husband, but you want to know the craziest thing? He would have stepped aside in a second if you had ever come back."

"Even after James?"

"It might have been harder for him then, but he loved you too, Jack. He had every opportunity to hate you, but he almost always came to your defense. He knew. He knew we'd never have the same connection you and I had. He knew he was the second choice. It was something that always hung between us." She said sniffling.

They ended up back on the couch in the living room, under a shared blanket, boxes of pictures and photo albums strewn about around them.

"Her first birthday party, she'd stuck both of her arms elbow deep into the cake. It got everywhere." She laughed, flipping through an album that was placed on his lap. Jack smiled sadly. Elizabeth pointed to another picture. "First time on the boat. She was a natural. Still is. She really is so much like you."

"What made you choose Rey?" He asked, still perusing the photos.

She was silent for a moment, and he turned his head to see her holding back tears. "It's short for Rachel." She said at last.

"You named her after mom?" He asked sincerely surprised.

"She was the closest thing I had to a mom, and I thought it could be a nice way to pay homage to you, even if you didn't know." She wiped a stray tear from her face.

"Did she know?" He asked.

"Of course she knew, but I swore her to secrecy. She was a huge help to me. Her and Rey were very close." Elizabeth sat, hands folded in her lap.

"So you knew I'd been calling, asking about you, about the baby? How often were you there when I called?" He angled himself toward her after setting the photo album on the coffee table.

"I was still mad at you, and partly felt so guilty about marrying Will. She tried to get me to take the phone so many times." Elizabeth laughed at the memory of Rachel shoving the phone into her arms, hearing Jack's voice on the other end blathering on to no one.

"She loved you. I got an earful from her every time I called, begging me to stop being so stubborn and come home. She was very thankful for your help when she got sick. Were you there when she…?"

"I had left just a few hours before. She made me promise to tell you…someday…at all. I had decided to hash everything out with you when you came for the funeral, prepared Will for what was to come, and then you showed up with that girl. I couldn't do it."

"That was my assistant. Armor I convinced myself I needed. I couldn't bear the thought of coming back and seeing you with him, living happily together with your kid. So I had her come with me. It was all for show." He admitted ashamedly.

"So many missteps." She sighed. He lay back on the sofa, pulling her with him. She lay her head on his chest and shut her eyes.

"And missed steps." He said stroking her hair, watching as her breathing deepened. "I never stopped loving you." He whispered in her ear.

The words sent a shiver up her spine and her body started to shudder as tears started spilling again. He gathered her closer and she continued to cry softly into the crook of his neck.

"You smell the same." She murmured, breathing in his scent. "You smell like the sea." She nuzzled against him and pressed a soft kiss just underneath his jaw. Jack shut his eyes at the contact. She grabbed his face turning him to face her. "Tell me I'm not dreaming this. Tell me it's really you, that you're really here." She demanded, running her hand along his cheek stopping to rub her thumb along his bottom lip.

"I'm here, Lizabeth." He said searching her face, getting lost in her eyes. He pressed a kiss to her forehead at the look of desperation he found there and brought his hand to cup her face. "I'm here." He whispered again. She shut her eyes and he pressed another kiss to her forehead, to her eyelid, then to her cheek, finally capturing her mouth in a soft pleading kiss. She pressed her body into his, entangling her arms around his back, savoring the feel of his lips on hers again. They broke the kiss, resting their foreheads against the other's, Jack brushed her cheek with his thumb, giving her a soft smile. She smiled sheepishly back at him, keeping her eyes trained on his mouth. Jack pressed another kiss to the side of her forehead as he pulled her tighter against his chest, and the two fell asleep grasping onto each other, unwilling to let the moment slip away from them.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack woke up with the sun as beams of light filtered through the blinds into the living room. He untangled himself from Elizabeth's embrace and got up from the couch. She shifted slightly and turned onto her side. Jack took the blanket and covered her before planting a soft kiss to her cheek. "Don't get up." He whispered as she opened her eyes.

"Are you leaving?" She asked confused and fearful. He knelt down next to the couch.

"No. I'm going to make breakfast and get the cooler packed."

"The cooler?" She questioned, still confused.

"We're going out on the fucking boat, remember?" He smiled.

She chuckled. "Right. I forgot. Do you want help?" She said through a yawn.

"No. Sleep. I can handle it." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and went toward the kitchen.

"Make french toast" She called from the couch before falling back asleep almost immediately.

Jack went into the freezer, pulled out the coffee and rummaged through the cabinets looking for filters for the coffee maker. Unable to find them right away he went into the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs, bacon, bread and milk. He grabbed a frying pan out from the cupboard, making a small bit of racket and he recoiled at the noise. He didn't want to wake up the whole house just yet.

Eggs beaten, pan warming, bacon sizzling, he was ready to start dredging the bread, but desperately wanted a cup of coffee. He continued rummaging again, going through nearly every cabinet in the kitchen. "Where are the fucking filters?" He mumbled to himself and closed the pantry door to find Rey standing there, holding out the filters to him.

"Oh. Thanks." He said taking them from her.

"You're still here." She observed quietly sitting on one of the barstools next to the island.

"Is that okay?" he asked as he walked back toward the stove, checking in on the bacon.

Rey shrugged.

"Do you drink coffee?" he offered.

"Sometimes." She said simply.

"Would you like some today?" He asked with a smile.

"Sure."

"Ok great." He said feeling a little nervous all of a sudden and turned toward the coffee pot.

Rey peered into the living room, seeing her mother draped in the blanket fast asleep on the couch. She turned her attention back toward Jack who had turned back around and started dipping slices of bread into the egg mixture.

"French toast?" She asked out loud. _Mom hates french toast,_ She thought. "We never get to have french toast."

"Your mother's request."

 _Maybe she hated it because it reminded her of him._ So many aspects of her life were starting to make sense over the past twenty-four hours just by Jack's mere presence. Her mother behaved so differently around him. Not so careful as she was with her father. _But he wasn't my father, was he?_

"I know who you are." She said blankly, finally working up the courage to admit it.

"I had a feeling."

"She didn't tell you either."

"What makes you say that?"

"You don't seem like the abandoning type, and I could tell by the way you were studying me, it was like you were looking for answers hidden somewhere in my face."

"How long did it take you to figure it out?"

"Not long. She looks at me with the same sad smile she's been giving you since you got here. A guilty smile."

"She did what she thought was best. Don't be too hard on her."

"I know. Will was a good father to me, but after James was born, I knew something was different. I just didn't know what it was." She stared intensely at the counter top trying to hold back tears. "I wish she would have just told me." She sniffed.

"You and me both." He said handing a mug of coffee to her. She took a small sip and set the cup down on the island. "Wanna give me a hand?" He asked her.

"Sure, what can I do?" She asked, getting up from her seat. "Think you can handle the french toast while I make sandwiches?"

"Sandwiches and french toast for breakfast?"

"The sandwiches are for the boat."

"We're going sailing?" She asked eagerly.

"Not without sandwiches and I can't do everything myself."

"I'll make the sandwiches. I've never made french toast before."

"Then you'll learn, and I can die knowing that I've taught you at least one thing." He joked.

"Alright." She said unsure.

He did a demonstration with the first piece of bread, showing her step by step what to do. Once she was sure about what she was doing, he left her on her own and started making sandwiches.

"I think the bacon is done." Rey said from over her pan. "Do you want me to put it on a plate?"

"Please." He said as he packed the sandwiches away.

"I smell bacon." James said from the hallway, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You smell correctly." Jack answered.

"You're still here!" James exclaimed excitedly. "Does that mean we're going out on the boat?" He asked climbing onto the barstool.

"Yeah, goober. Be helpful and go get the cooler out of the garage." Rey said, turning to him

"Ok, ok. Jeez. I just got up." James said climbing back off of the chair and heading toward the garage.

"Alright. French toast is done. Bacon is done. Where are we with the sandwiches?" Rey asked.

"Done."

"Now we eat?"

"Yes. Grab some plates. I'll grab the orange juice and glasses."

"Here's the cooler." James presented proudly.

"Fantastic. I have one more job for you." He said to James.

"What is it?" James asked dreading having to do another chore.

"Go and wake up your mom. She's on the couch." He instructed in a conspiratorial whisper.

He watched James run over to the couch and climb on top of Elizabeth's sleeping form. He tapped her on the nose. "Wake up sleepy head. Jack and Rey made breakfast." James said sweetly. Elizabeth stretched her arms over her head, extending her entire body, and clutched her boy to her chest. "Can't I sleep a little while longer?" She asked her son.

"Nope. We're going sailing!" James said pushing himself up and poking her in the face like he always did when he was trying to get her to do something.

"Alright, Alright. I'm up." Elizabeth said sitting up. "Lead the way."

James grabbed her hand and dragged her to the kitchen table where Jack and Rey had everything set. Jack had a chair pulled out for her. "Breakfast is served, madam."

"Thank you kindly." She said with the nod of her head as she pushed her chair in. "Everything smells so good. Compliments to the chef." She said to Jack.

"Don't look at me. I just made the sandwiches." He said holding his hands up.

Elizabeth turned to Rey who took the seat next to her mother. "You made all of this?"

"I only made the french toast. Jack showed me how." She said with a small smile.

Elizabeth grabbed Rey's hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping to say silently in that moment 'thank you for being so understanding' or 'I'm sorry I kept you from each other'. What surprised her was how hard, Rey had squeezed back. Acceptance or sadness she wasn't sure, but when Rey leaned onto her shoulder, she knew they'd come to some kind of understanding. Elizabeth brought her free hand to Rey's cheek, holding her, and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"I brought in the cooler!" James exclaimed from his seat, breaking the silence.

"And we are eternally grateful, kid." Jack added.

"Well, I can't wait to dig into this." Elizabeth said with a real smile. The first real smile she'd been able to show in a long time. The four enjoyed the rest of breakfast, packed up the car, and drove down to the harbor to set sail on the fucking boat.

—-

The S.V. Rachel was docked in the last slip in the marina. She was just as Jack remembered. Stunning against the rising sun, elegant in every way, she was the fruit of his labors. Blood, sweat, tears and hard earned money went into restoring her. The only one capable of taking care of her the way he wanted was Elizabeth, so he gave it to her when he left. He'd hoped she'd take it as his promise to return, but apparently neither of them were very good at reading in between the lines. They were kids, she liked to keep reminding him.

"Is it possible she looks even better than I remember?" He said standing before the ship in awe.

"I should hope so. I put in a few thousand dollars to have her deck refinished and the sails repaired." Elizabeth muttered as she stepped onto the boat with an arm full of towels.

"See? You were the best person to take care of her." Jack said following behind her carrying the cooler.

Elizabeth, Jack and Rey readied the boat for their departure. Jack untied her from the slip and pushed the boat before jumping in the moving vessel. The main sail billowed in the wind as they headed out for open water. Elizabeth stood behind the wheel, steering the boat out of the harbor. Rey adjusted the tack line so the wind wouldn't blow them back toward the shore while Jack explained to James what she was doing and why it was important.

"Can I steer?" James asked.

"First you learn about adjusting the sails, then you can steer." Jack said sternly, but not unfriendly.

"Ok."

"Do we know where we're sailing to? Or are just going to meander about aimlessly?" Elizabeth asked from the wheel.

"Keep her sailing northeast for the next few kilometers and tie off the wheel. I'll take us the rest of the way when the time comes."

Elizabeth looked down her nose at Jack in suspicion. Jack turned to James and quizzed him on what he would have to do to keep the ship sailing in their current direction. He answered correctly and Jack encouraged him, telling him he could very well be steering the boat by the end of the day. Needless to say, it made James want to learn as much as he could. So Jack spent the first hour or so teaching him what the different lines and beams were for. Rey sat at the bow of the boat staring out at the ocean ahead of her, letting the wind blow her hair back. Every once and awhile she would turn and watch Jack with her younger brother and smile at how excited he was.

Elizabeth tied off the wheel and went to sit next to her daughter, throwing her arm around Rey's shoulder and hugging her closer. "Can you ever forgive me?" She whispered.

"I suppose I can't blame your for being young and stupid." Rey said sarcastically.

"Very funny."

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell him. He's a good guy." Rey said turning toward her mother.

"Like him, do you?"

"He's all right." She said in jest. "Do you love him still?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth in astonishment at her daughter's blunt question "I don't know." She said turning away, staring at the two boys messing with the sails.

"Yes, you do. You can't mourn Dad forever, you know?"

"It's only been a couple of months."

"Haven't you guys missed out on enough time as it is?" Rey said standing up.

"You _are_ too smart for your own good." Elizabeth smiled.

"I know." Rey turned back toward Jack and James. "Hey! You're doing that wrong!" she yelled at them, waving her arms in the air.

Elizabeth watched the three of them. Rey was arguing with Jack over correct technique while James laughed watching the two tug at the boom. Jack admitted that while standard sailing technique would prove her reasoning correct, his custom design of the sails rendered the technique useless. To which Rey replied that Elizabeth changed the sail design because eliminating the need to perform that particular technique was stupid.

"She did what?!" He stormed over to where Elizabeth was sitting. "I left her in your care, and you disfigured her?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes "It didn't make sense to have a feature that only you and I knew how to maneuver. I wasn't the only one taking the boat out on dives."

"It's unimaginable, unforgivable really. She must be punished." Jack turned to Rey and James, "Crew! What say you?" he barked at them.

"Make her walk the plank!" Rey yelled in her best pirate impression.

"Yeah!" James agreed exuberantly.

"Stay away from me" Elizabeth said to Jack as he moved toward her.

"Lizzie, Lizzie, what the Captain says goes."

"As the Captain of this vessel, I say come one step closer, and I'll punch you in the stomach."

"Feisty. Alright, you win this round, but you will pay. Mark my words."

"Consider them marked." She said teasing.

"Time to adjust our course anyway." Jack said heading to the wheel, calling out to James to adjust the sail. With Rey's assistance, James completed the task perfectly. "Alright, come up here, kid." Jack called to him. James practically skipped his way toward Jack. "You've earned your spot. She's all yours."

"Really?" He asked with that wide eyed innocence that reminded him of Will.

"Take the wheel." James took Jack's spot behind the helm while Jack gave him instructions. "You're a natural, Jimmy." Jack complimented him and stepped toward the stern to give the boy his space while still keeping an eye on him.

"You just made his year." Rey said coming to stand next to him.

Jack smiled at her. "Yours too?"

"Gettin' there. You know this boat was my second home growing up. Mom would say I was happier sailing than doing anything else. I didn't know how much more meaningful those memories would become now that I know the truth."

"I named her for your namesake." Fitting, he thought, that both of his first creations shared the same name.

"Grandma Rachel. I know." Rey laughed to herself. "She really _was_ my grandmother."

"Yeah she was."

"I miss her." Rey whispered.

"Me too." Jack paused. "Would it be all right if I gave you something?"

"Sure."

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brass compass. "My dad gave this to me for my thirteenth birthday. It's never left my side since. It's been everywhere I've been. I want you to have it." He said handing it to her.

"I can't take this." She said holding it her hands, focusing on it intently.

"Yes, you can. Maybe it will help you find where you want to go in life? Maybe it will lead you to your next great adventure? Either way, it's yours now."

"Thank you." She said softly and without warning flung herself into Jack's arms, squeezing her arms around his middle.

Jack was taken aback momentarily, not expecting such an emotional reaction, but wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him, a hand resting on the back of her head. Elizabeth looked on in concern about to stand up when her movements caught Jack's attention. He gave her a hand signal indicating that everything was fine and eyed her toward James who was still steering the boat unsupervised. Rey finally let him go and wiped the tears from her face. "Thank you for this" She said softly, clutching the compass tightly. "Year officially made." She choked on a sob that didn't quite make it through.

Jack lifted her chin with his finger. "Hey, this doesn't need to be sad thing."

"How can it not be a sad thing? I'm just getting to know you, and you're gonna have to leave again."

"Who said I was leaving?" He asked her. Rey beamed and hugged him once more. "On the boom with you, we're here." He said to her eyeing the cape. She let him go and ran toward the bow.

"Really, Jack?" Elizabeth turned to him from behind the wheel.

"What? I thought it would be nice to commemorate the maiden voyage." He said slipping passed her toward the bow to drop the anchor. "Alright, bring her about." He called to Rey.

Once they had anchored and tied off the necessary sails, Jack approached Elizabeth. "Now, if memory serves me, you've yet to serve your punishment."

"Jack, don't you dare." She said backing away from him.

"Come on, Lizzie. Fair is fair." He said pushing her further and further toward the edge.

"Really, Jack. Don't you think you're being a little bit ridiculous?" She asked as he had her precariously perched on the edge of the boat.

"You both are." Rey said, before giving Jack a shove sending them both into the water.

Jack and Elizabeth surfaced laughing and sputtering. "Punishments will be doled out to all." Jack exclaimed, pushing Elizabeth's head beneath the water before climbing back onto the deck, sopping wet head to toe. "Your next." He said pointing to Rey who shrieked as he chased after her. Throwing her over his shoulder, he tossed her over the edge of the boat into the water.

"Me next!" James giggled. Jack picked the boy up and chucked him high in the air and James landed with smack into the water.

Jack removed his soaked shirt and jumped in after them. When he surfaced all three of them were waiting to splash him. "Mutiny!" He cried as they all tackled him. He ducked beneath the surface and swam away from them. "You're all in serious trouble." He scolded jokingly.

"Get him!" Elizabeth yelled and the three of them swam after Jack who grabbed James holding him like a shield.

"You wouldn't harm an innocent child, would you?"

Mother and daughter looked at each other and sent a torrential downpour of ocean water upon the two boys.

"This is your fault." Jack sputtered to James when the girls finally ceased.

"Not mine." James laughed wildly.

"You know who is really ticklish?" Jack asked James.

"Who?" James asked with a wide smile.

"He is!" Elizabeth yelled, pointing to Jack, and the three attacked him again.

"Traitor!" Jack screeched at James while trying to contain his laughter. "Okay what do I have to do to get you to stop this?" he asked laughing uncontrollably.

"Say I'm the captain." Elizabeth demanded.

"Are you kidding?"

"Say I'm the captain." She repeated.

"Ok. Ok. You win. You're the captain."

"Let him go, kids. We're done here." She said triumphantly.

"You're cruel." He whispered to her. "Are we ready to do some fishing or did you all want to pummel me some more?" He asked catching his breath.

"Fishing!" James answered first.

"Last one to the boat has to bait the hooks?" Rey lay the wager on the table.

They all looked at each other and started swimming furiously toward the boat. Jack grabbed Elizabeth's ankle and pulled her back so he could swim passed her. She in turn did the same. The two ended up battling beneath the water all the way toward the hull of the boat. He grabbed for the edge of the boat and she pulled him back down, pinning his back against the hull. She stared at him, eyes smoldering. Out of breath he smiled at her and she captured his lips desperately.

"This is familiar" He said breaking the kiss.

"As if you didn't bring us here for this very reason." She whispered against his lips.

"I had hoped." He grinned wickedly.

"Shut up." She said kissing him again.

"Ahem. Down there. We have hooks that need baiting." Rey called from above. "And young children with insatiable curiosity who may begin wondering what happened to the adults we came here with."

Elizabeth smiled against his mouth. "Go up there first. I'll bait the hooks. I'll just be a minute."

Jack made a move to climb on deck, but stopped. "I might need a minute myself." He grinned at her.

"Honestly. What are you, fourteen?"

"It's been fifteen years and you still drive me crazy. I can't help that."

"Try."

"I'm trying, but you gotta stop looking at me like that."

"Okay. I'm gonna take a few laps around the boat. I'll see you up there." She pressed a quick kiss to his mouth and swam off.

"Not helping." He called after her.

—

They fished for a few hours. James caught the biggest fish of the day, but Rey brought in the biggest bounty. They shared stories, laughed and just generally enjoyed being on the ocean together.

The sun had started to set, so Jack and Elizabeth had deemed it time to go. They were met by a few boos and other resistant remarks, but Jack insisted and promised ice cream on the way back to the house and that he would cook up a good ol' fashioned fish fry when they got home.

After reaching an agreement, they were underway again.

Jack helped them get the boat heading in the right direction. "Do you think you kids, can get us back in one piece?" He asked them.

"Please." Rey scoffed.

"Alright, take her away." He said leaving the helm to her and walking toward Elizabeth. She was wrapped in a blanket leaning up against the railing and Jack settled down beside her and took the blanket from her. He wrapped them both in it, and pulled her into him. She rested her head against his chest and fell asleep as he ran his hand along her back, her head tucked safely beneath his chin. He eventually shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep as well.

"They like each other don't they?" James asked coming to join Rey at the wheel.

"That right there, Jimmy, that's love." Rey said back to him.

"How do you know?"

"Because only two idiots in love would leave a fifteen and seven year old in charge of a thirty foot boat while they slept"

"Oh." He answered not fully comprehending the explanation.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack woke to a finger being jammed into his forehead. He opened one eye to find Rey squatting next to him.

"Hi." She greeted him. "We're nearly to the marina. Thought you might want to put her in the slip yourself."

"Right." Jack said getting up quickly, slightly disoriented. Elizabeth stirred beside him, equally confused.

"I'll let you get your bearings." Rey said before walking away.

"How long did we sleep for?" Elizabeth asked yawning.

"The whole way. Time to get up." He held he hand out to her and helped her to her feet.

Jack pulled the sailboat into the slip with expert ease. They tied her up to the dock, furled her sails, covered her up and headed home, but not before stopping for ice cream as promised.

They arrived home and started unloading the car. "Showers, both of you, before you do anything else." She called to her kids, stopping them before they ran into the house.

James gave an audible groan and Rey pushed him forward "Come on, pipsqueak." She turned back. "Keep it PG out here you two."

"She's cheeky that one." Elizabeth said turning to Jack, who pulled her into him.

"She gets that from you." They said at the same time and laughed. Elizabeth buried her head in Jack's chest.

"Today was perfect. Thank you." She said looking up at him.

"At risk of ruining this perfect day, I do have one question, and please don't take it the wrong way."

"What?" She asked her tone hardening.

"Did you want me to stay here tonight? Because if you do, I'm going to need to go home and get a change of clothes, and maybe have a shower."

She smiled seductively at him "We have a shower here." She said against his mouth. "And I'm sure there's something of Will's you can borrow until tomorrow."

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't be weird me wearing your late husband's clothing?"

"I guess your right. Maybe it would be better if you went home tonight. I should probably talk to the kids, make sure they don't get the wrong idea."

"And that would be?"

"I just don't want them to get used to this. I mean eventually you'll have to go home."

"I mean eventually, yes, I'll have to put the house up for sale, get all my shit in order, but that shouldn't take more than a week or so."

"What the hell are you talking about, Jack?"

"Lizzie, and I really want you to pay attention to what I'm saying here, so we don't have any further misunderstandings. I'm not going anywhere. I won't lose you again, and I'm not going to waste any more time pretending that I want to be anywhere else but here. I've missed out on too much, that stops now."

She searched his face for a joke, and finding only deadly seriousness in his eyes she pulled his face to hers, capturing his lips in a passionate kiss. Jack responded in kind, running his hands beneath the back of her shirt, relishing in the familiar softness of her skin. The energy between them hadn't dissipated one ounce over the last fifteen years. Electricity shot through every inch of skin, every touch. Jack reluctantly pulled away, breaking the kiss. "You are right though, I should go home tonight. You and Rey need to talk. She needs to understand and she needs to hear it from you. So after dinner, I will leave."

"And when will I get to see you again?"

"Do you have to open the shop tomorrow?"

"Yes" She groaned.

"What if I brought lunch down to the store?"

"I might like that."

"Then it's settled." He pressed a kiss to her nose before letting her go. Jack was about to take the cooler of fish into the house when a hand on his back stopped him. "You're going to gut those out here, right?"

Jack turned toward her "Is that what you would prefer?" He asked.

"Yes." She said with a wide smile.

"Then, yes. That was my plan all along."

Elizabeth placed a kiss on his cheek and moved to go into the house.

"Where are you going?" He asked her.

"You're not the only one who needs a shower." She smiled sweetly at him before disappearing.

 _Resist the urge to follow her. Resist, resist, resist. He thought to himself._

—

Dinner came and went, James had fallen asleep on the couch almost immediately. Jack picked him up and carried him to his room. When he came back down Rey was washing dishes in the kitchen. "I'm gonna get going." Jack said leaning against the counter next to her.

"You're not staying?" She asked with an eyebrow raised

"Not tonight. You and your mom need to talk. I mean really talk, ok?" He pulled her in for a hug. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Thanks for today. It was awesome."

"The first of many." He smiled down at her.

"Good." She let go of him and he walked back to the living room where Elizabeth stood waiting for him.

"I can't persuade you to stay?"

"You could, but you and I both know I need to go."

"Can I at least walk you out?"

"Please."

They walked outside and shut the door and Jack brought his hand to her face and pressed his lips to hers. "I do want to stay." He said with closed eyes. He leaned down to her lips again, but pulled back. "No. I can't if I kiss you again, I won't be able to leave."

"Well then leave already, so I don't have to be tortured any longer."

"One more." He kissed her again. "Ok, I'm going." He turned to walk down the driveway, but turned back toward her. "I just realized something."

"What?"

"I don't have a car."

"Hold on." Elizabeth went into the house and came back with a set of keys. "Take Will's bike. It's in the garage."

"Thank you." He said kissing her again as he took the keys.

"Seriously. Leave now or you're not leaving at all."

"Ok, ok. I'm leaving. Talk to her." He added with a pointed stare.

"Yes okay. Bye." She said shoving him away. He turned and headed toward the garage, but turned back around and stole one more kiss before leaving.

—

Jack rode the motorcycle all the way to his house, not realizing his dad had never given him a key. He knocked on the front door and there was no answer. He went around back, still no answer. Sighing, Jack realized he'd have to go down to Josh's to get the key from him.

So he hopped back on the bike and headed downtown.

Josh's Bar was a local staple for as long as he could remember. Josh Gibbs was his father's best friend and subsequently would become Jack's godfather. His father would bring him to the bar after working on his fishing boat and reward Jack's hard work with a finger of whiskey. 'To help you sleep,' he would say. More like 'make good and sure you sleep so you stay out of trouble.' Either way, his memories of this place were always pleasant.

Jack parked the bike and went inside. A dark amber glow hung low in the space, thick smoke meandered about, and a Johnny Cash song was playing in the background. Jack went right up to the bar. "Something strong barkeep." He yelled over the din.

Josh turned around. "Stars and stripes, Jack, is that you?"

"In the flesh."

"Your dad said you were back. What can I get you? It's on the house."

"Nothing for me, Josh. I'm not staying long. I was just looking for the old man, is he here?"

"He's here" a calloused hand dropped onto his shoulder. "Stay and have a drink with me."

"Fine." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Josh we'll have two more of these." He pointed to his now empty glass. "You didn't come home last night."

"No, I didn't."

"Does that mean you two idiots sorted out your problems and the rest of the town can stop pretending that Rey isn't your kid?"

"Everybody knew?"

"The governor may have tried really hard to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and the fact that you never came back, well, it did add to the credibility of the story, but those of us that really knew you two never bought any of it. Elizabeth told your mother the truth, I know that. Your mom really gave her the business about buying into her father's ridiculous notions." Ed laughed.

"Why didn't either of you tell me?"

"Rachel tried in her own way, but you were even more stubborn than Elizabeth…and prideful. Plus Elizabeth was pretty adamant about keeping it from you, so I did what your mother asked of me and stayed out of it. So what happens now?"

"I need to find a house." Jack said taking down his glass in one gulp.

"You're staying?" His father coughed.

"I am. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in desperate need of a shower." Jack said with his hand held out.

"What? Oh, the keys. Here. Leave the backdoor unlocked." He said handing them to Jack.

"Thanks for the drink, Josh. I'll see you around." Jack said and left.

—-

Jack had only been asleep for an hour or so when he heard a noise. He stirred for a minute trying to recognize where the sound was coming from. He heard the noise again and looked to his window, and was surprised to find Elizabeth sneaking into his bedroom in an oversized sweater and leggings. Jack sat up, but she crossed over to him quickly.

"Don't get up. I'm coming in." She said kicking off her shoes before finding her way beneath the covers.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as she curled into him.

"I needed to see you." She rested her head on his chest.

"You didn't have to sneak in."

"I thought it would be fun. Like the old days."

"When Dad pretended not to know what was happening, but always miraculously found a reason to come up here."

"He almost caught us once."

"More than once." He paused for a moment "Did you talk to Rey?"

"Yes. It was a good talk. I think we both understand each other a little better. She told me what you gave to her."

"It's silly, I know…"

"No. It wasn't." She said seriously, still angry with herself for not believing in him all those years ago.

"Does she know you came here?"

"It was her idea."

"I'm not so sure how I feel about that."

"Well, I could either be here now or be home now. Which would you prefer?" She asked as she sat up, hovering over him.

"This is definitely the better option." He said cupping her face and pulling her back down toward him to claim her lips with his. She gave a soft moan and ran a hand across his bare chest. She maneuvered herself to sit atop him, legs straddling either side of his waist. He ran his hands along her legs, bringing them to rest on her hips and pulling her harder against him. Jack moved his hands up and grabbed the hem of her sweater, lifting it over her head. She moved back down to kiss him and he stopped her by grabbing her shoulders. "No. I want to look at you. I want to relearn every inch of you." He growled.

Slowly Jack sat up, Elizabeth still sitting on top of his thighs, and trailed kisses from her breast bone toward her collar bone, upwards along her neck, finally capturing her lips again. He pressed his body against hers, bare skin to bare skin, hot and wanting. Jack lay her back on the bed and slid her leggings off of her hips.

"You're not wearing underwear." He looked at her with a questioning smirk.

She smiled mischievously at him.

"You didn't just come here to see me. You were going to seduce me." He teased.

"You caught me. What are you going to do to me?" She asked, feigning worry.

"So many things."He growled again and their two bodies reunited in a way that would make the heavens shake and trumpets sound. An explosion of years of pent up emotion and passion exchanged between two souls that undeniably belonged together, that knew the other inside and out, that ended in sated bliss and words of love.

She lay back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her middle, hand splayed across her stomach, his thumb tracing patterns against her supple skin. He had his face buried into her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of whatever shampoo she'd used. "Did you mean what you said, earlier?"

"Of course. I love-"

"No, I mean back at the house. Are you really going to stay?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But what about your job?"

"My job goes wherever I go."

"What about all the traveling?"

"That can be tempered, and I think we can arrange a few trips for just you and I, and maybe a few with the kids."

"They have school."

"During the summer, then."

"What about the shop?"

"Lizzie, stop worrying about things before they happen. My first priority is you and Rey and I'll do whatever it takes to make it work for all of us. Not to mention, James is going to need a father figure and what better way to repay Will for taking care of my family than taking care of his."

"So this is really happening? We're gonna do this thing?"

"If you want it, of course, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm all in."

She turned and kissed him.

—

3 years later.

"You couldn't go to school somewhere closer?" Jack asked tossing pancakes on a plate and setting them in front of Rey. "I only barely got through your high school years and you want to up and go half way across the country."

"Dad." She laughed. "I'll be back for christmas."

"Next thing I know you're coming back here with some boy who's asked to marry you and I'll have to let him take care of you."

"I'll always let you take care of me, and whatever boy I do bring home, you can take care of him too."

"I think I have enough people to look after without adding one more." He said looking over to a dark haired two year old tossing blocks out of his play pen. "Billy, keep the toys inside!" He yelled and the young child only giggled, throwing a block in Jack's direction. "I have no control." Jack muttered.

"You never did." Rey said with a smirk, digging into her pancakes.

"Smells good in here." Elizabeth waltzed in grabbing a pancake off of Rey's plate and stuffing it in her mouth before greeting Jack with a kiss on the cheek.

"And how are we feeling this morning?" He asked her meaningfully, placing a hand on her swollen stomach.

"The smell of pancakes hasn't sent me into the bathroom yet. So I imagine I'll get through the day, but mark my words Jack, this will be the last time I'm doing this." She said eyeing his groin.

Jacks eyebrows furrowed. "Noted. Where's James?" Jack asked looking to an untouched plate of pancakes.

"He's protesting." Rey said with a mouth full of food.

"Protesting what?" Jack asked, baffled.

"He's mad that I'm leaving, so he's protesting by staying in bed."

"Jim! Get your ass down here and enjoy your last breakfast with your sister." Jack yelled loudly.

"You make it sound so final." Rey scoffed.

"He's just upset." Elizabeth said stuffing her face with pancakes, thankful the morning sickness had passed.

"Damn right, I'm upset. Did you learn nothing from me? Running away won't get you anywhere." Jack added pointedly.

"I'm not running. I'm having an adventure. I know where my home is." Rey said resolutely. "And that I did learn from you."

 **The End.**


End file.
